Does anyone have an idea of a good book or two or three, for a young teen, that is fairly up to date, as not to seem like "oh, it's not like that anymore," i.e. Anne Frank (and she's also a girl ~~~ YUCK he says, although we are reading that this year also, that I can have him read that would show families that have life much harder, have to work together to get things done, have lots of chores to contribute to the family, don't have all the modern electronic gadgets, don't always have the most wonderful food on the table, have a hard time paying bills, etc. I've also thought of the book, which I have, The Pursuit of Happiness, although that might be a bit long and a bit overwhelming for him, unless I read it to or with him.

Anyway, any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

DM

We just read 2 really good books about how difficult life can be...they both take place a long time ago but it can really put things in perspective. the first is 'A tree grows in Brooklyn' it is about a girl but my 11 yr. old boy seemed to like it. It's the kind of book that you have to stick with because it definately gets better as you go. The second is 'the human comedy'...this one is about a boy. It's kind of dry at times but it's fairly easy to read! My son read both this summer and liked them. They really made him think about how easy he has it! Hope these suggestions help.
Take care,
Debbie

Hi Dawn and Debbie,

What might be helpful, though not an exact response to you, is movies. We have Netflix, and the children enjoy choosing movies to watch. I also choose some of the movies and we will watch them together (though I'm not much of a tv watcher, myself, LOL). We very recently watched the movie, Little Women, a classic story.

It's surely filled with hardship, and shows how the family remains committed through hard times, which they do survive ~ though not without their share of tragedy.

You might also want to ask your librarian for suggestions, too.

My son loves reading sci-fi books. He's read a lot of them, and now he has started the rather large series of books by Orson Scott Card. A friend reminded me of that author. We used to own all of his books, which my older children devoured. Here we go again, LOL.